13/12/2016

Evening, how are we all? All healthy I hope. This past week I have been anything but a picture of health. Infact the photo below thankfully shows you nothing of what has really been going on during the week. I wouldn't dream of sharing a photo of the reality that was because trust me it was pretty nasty. Snot, sore lips, crusty nose and a pale face with no make up and before you start thinking this is turning into a scary story I'll leave that right there.

I had caught the flu, something I'm pretty sure I haven't had since I was young enough to be hand fed strawberry icecream and forced to take that disgusting spoonful of banana tasting medicine. I've had my fair share of colds but the flu? It'd been a while. I didn't recognise any of the symptoms: a fever, chills, heachache, achy bones, sore throat, and a cough. I just simply thought I was being a drama queen over a cold, the drama queen part is pretty normal I have to admit. So I shrugged it off the first day and just carried on.

The next day however I had to go into Iceland to do a grocery shop, I had a deadline for a video so it had to be done at short notice or I don't think I would've gone that day. Walking round the store I was gagging covering my mouth in fear I would vomit down each isle, yep it was that dramatic. Eyes watering I said to Reese "I need to go home now" so we rushed around to get out of there asap.

I got home and inbetween filming I had to run out the kitchen to be sick, jesus this was not just a silly old cold. Have I got time to be getting sick? God no! I've got a house to run, work to do and a family that depends on me. Flicking my hair back into a pony tail I flushed it away and walked back into the kitchen determined to finish my food haul. I meant business. Having this go hard or go home attitude really set me up that afternoon and I even took Penny to the birthday party that was planned for the day as I didnt want to miss seeing her dressed up as Cinderella.

We went and Penelope was pretty unhappy as soon as we got there, she was begging to go for a sleep in her grandads car. Thankfully we were an hour early so I went and popped her to sleep. She was really upset about everything which at the time I just brushed off thinking she was just over tired and being particularly hard work. Penelope had about 45 minutes sleep until she woke up, surprisingly keen to get to the party. We went into the hall and she coward away into my arms as usual and her nanny brought over a little plate of goodies to eat. Of course she went straight in and ate a few bits from the plate. The next thing I knew I was being covered in white sick, poor Cinderella was now all in a mess for the ball. There would be no more party as she now needed to get home and get straight into some warm pj's.

Reeses dad dropped us off and I opened our front door while trying to juggle 100 things as you do as a parent. It's a skill I'm sure, one you learn pretty quickly. One foot in the door and Reeses dad says "Erghh" I looked down and saw Penny had just projectile vomited all down my coat, dammit I just wasn't fast enough with the juggling. I hurried in and she was still gagging so I lent her forward trying to show her how to be sick into a bowl. This she didnt grasp at all, but what else do you do?! She's two and just thought I was trying to strangle her by pushing her forwards towards the bowl. It was all a complete disaster as you can well imagine.

To bed with us both, we both felt a little worse for wear after the whole ordeal so we tucked ourselves into my bed and watched a Disney film together. This is where things went downhill for me. As soon as I laid down I felt exhausted and I began to drift off to sleep at a rate I couldn't stop myself. I'd had fallen asleep and woke up to Penelope passing me the contents from her advent calendar?! GREAT that was a Christmas fail (it was only the 3rd of December at the time).

I was texting Reeses mum to say I was feeling rotton as they had text to check we were okay, she even offered for us to come and stay with them as Reese was away and they thought it'd be easier on me if they helped out with Penny, How kind is that? But I was too comfortable and settled in bed at home to wake Penny up too just seemed unnecessary. It was lovely they were so thoughtful though.

Reese was on his way home a while later thankfully as I was close to tears having to stay awake with Penelope who'd since woken up and decided she was full of energy. There's no such thing as 'ill' when your a parent is there? Anyway he got in and immediately we did my temperature. Which was just over 40.0 and I was pretty delirious crying into my pillow by this point.

We checked Penelopes which had also plummeted to 40.0 so all was in the air and we both had some medicine. We fell into a chilled sleep that evening around 6pm and woke up the following day at 4pm. That's the most sleep I've had since well, ever! I've never had a length of sleep like that in my life. We both obviously needed it. Reese was worried sick as he knows this isn't normal for me. I woke up at 4pm to stone cold waffles on the side as he tried to bring me breakfast up that morning but I didnt wake up. Bless him. It was a really rough few days after that.

Trying to get down the stairs for a wee or to get a juice drink because that's all I could stomach felt like it could make me pass out.

Its the 13th December now and I'm still sat here snuffling and coughing away. It's amazing how much an illness can really wipe you out. I'm so set to get back into Decembers festivities and get back to all the fun I had in store for Penelope. Sorry if this post bored you all to death but I wanted to just write and I felt a diary like entry to get it all off my chest as to how how rubbish this past week has been was just the thing. It's written down now so I can really put it to bed and carry on with positive healthy thoughts, onto Christmas.

28/11/2016

I'm sat down in bed, nashing my teeth into some yummy dark chocolate with a glass of wine winding down for the evening. I know what I SHOULD be doing, I've got a ton of preparation for vlogmas to get done. Yes-way I am doing it this year by the way, I cannot wait maybe your'll pop over and JOIN US over Christmas? Tonight I'm taking a break, in this moment I just want to write. A life update is in order infact it was needed a good while ago. I've been really absent from my blog for a long while and theres a little love needed back round here. I have a few excuses but I hate to use excuses because it just doesn't ever justify the reason I've been neglecting something I love, blogging.

As your here and wanting to know whats been going on, ill proceed to explain myself. I've been trying to work on my relationship. Parenthood hit us HARD, the initial parenting came easy we are doing a great job there and our Penelope is doing incredible. It's not that. It was the staying connected as a couple part we struggled with, it became really obvious that if we didn't try to make time or put any effort in, we knew we'd end up not being together if we carried on.

So that's what we've been fixing, and we are in a much much better place now. I feel so much better knowing that we spend some quality time together now. We may not get out for actual date nights but cosy nights in with a glass of wine and dinner is good enough for me, right now. I wish we could go out for dates like the cinema, meals out, or go on shopping trips etc but we just don't ever seem to get the child care. There's only so many times you want to ask, anyone else understand this? It's fine though as long as we stick together and communicate how we are feeling then we will be fine and we really are, we are doing great and continuing to get better.

Something else has been underlining my lack of blogging too, I've been working my absolute butt off on my Youtube channel, I'm trying really hard to grow my channel, it means alot to me that little haven of mine. I made this blog to share my life as we ventured into being parents, while it was amazing at first it never felt 'enough'. I love to over share my goings on and I feel like video really expresses what I want to share. I admit I watch vlogs much more than I read blog posts these days. I just connect better watching someones life in video than reading about it. You can tell I don't read books cant you, maybe you didn't know that about me? It's not because I cant read, more that I hate the thought of reading a huge book- lazy cow yes I know that's what your thinking. In actual fact I'm far from that but why read a book over two days when you can watch the film in an hour and a half. That's how I feel towards making Youtube videos, its a better logic to me. It's hard to find a balance between Youtube and the Babyy Pebbles blog is all I was trying to say there. Blimey, I do like go off tangent dont I?!

Last but not least I've been suffering daily with horrendous back pain, I can't even express to you all how bad its truly been. So many evenings I've cried silently in bed not wanting to wake Penny because I'm unable to move and get out of bed. Yep, I get stuck and cannot get up until the pain goes away, it can take 2 minutes or even 10 minutes of unbearable pain. It shoots through my whole body and if I even so much as move my arm or breathe it sends me to tears ALOT. I cant just play around on the floor with my daughter, I have to be careful how I lay down putting her to bed, I put her at risk if I'm on my own with her because if a fire broke out and I'm stuck I cannot move to save us, dramatic I know but thats how real this is, I cannot move. She was sitting on the bed once in a hotel room. Reese nipped out to the car and I got stuck, I was desperately trying to get up incase she fell off the bed, but I just could not. Thankgoodness she was fine but it was terrifying. There was a time where she was pulling my pony tail calling 'mumma, mumma' I couldn't even get a word out to tell her I was okay, or to stop pulling me as it made my pain worse from her pulling my head backwards.

I could go on about the struggles all night, but just know I'm in pain every second of everyday and it fucking sucks arse. I'd never wish this on anyone. But, the good news is I have my long awaited appointment with the spinal surgeon on the 20th December, and I can only hope they help me. I want to play with my daughter on the floor, rough and tumble with her and roll around the carpet playing silly buggers. I want to put my daughter to sleep cuddled up with her not sitting upright in fear of not being unable to get up. Its going to be emotional, I can already feel myself welling up at the thought of walking into the surgeons office and telling him everything. Just relief to tell someone who can hopefully take all the pain away from me, I don't feel like a 24 year old women right now.

So there it is, my poor list of excuses as to why I've been absent. Its just been alot of getting through, and fixing things. God, its amazing what writing your feelings down does for your sense of mind, I feel so much has been lifted off my shoulders. I shall do this again very soon, I've missed blogging, the thing I love but next time...I need more chocolate and wine.

06/10/2016

Does your child love watching those surprise egg youtube videos? Yes, mine too. I don't get the fascination myself but my Penelope is going crazy to watch them by any means she can. My laptop, phone, ipad and even on the television. You name it she has used it to get her egg fix. I don't mind the fact she has got into watching something she enjoys but what drives me up the bend is hearing it constantly. There's only so many songs you can take before it drives you to the point of loosing your mind. I was boarding that line. My phone is my best friend you can imagine that right...but I was beginning to enjoy the thought of throwing it out of the window.

A lovely lady called Lily got in touch with me to see if we would be interested in reviewing the EASYSMX kid safe on ear headphones for children. I jumped at the chance as this is a product I've been thinking of purchasing for some time now, I know all you parents out there are going to love these so I'm really excited to share this product with you!

Meet these beauties! Pennys little face lite up like a light when she opened them. They come brilliantly packaged all sealed very well. I've actually kept the box to store them in when not being used at home just to keep them safe, okay yes more for the fact the packaging is really cute too.

One of the first points I want to mention is that these headphones are completely safe for a childs hearing. They are volume limited so can only reach a safe maximum which is 93DB so they do not damage your childs hearing in any way. I found this put my mind at ease so much when letting her use them.

Your second concern is maybe the fact your toddler might accidentally snap them because hey kids break things sometimes on a daily basis, but don't worry the head band is made from high quality polycarbonate which is super flexible you can twist it and turn it and it does not break. Perfect for super strong toddler hands.

My third concern would be that I'd want the headphones to be comfortable on my childs delicate ears, but EasySMX have this in the bag too as the ear pads are made from soft cushioned leather, oh what luxury for such little people hey.

Finally my forth concern is the obvious one, will they fit? Penelope is two years old. The product is suggested to be for 3+ but Penelope has had no trouble with them slipping off or anything like that. There is plenty of extending space to use as she grows. I gave them a quick try on myself and they even fit my head. I was able to check out the sound quality aswell which was really clear, even with the volume limitation its at a very nice level so you can hear it perfectly.

We go on holiday in a few days and for parts of the car journey we are bringing these headphones along with us to drown out those blasted childrens songs and let Penelope happily watch her videos in peace, safely which is the main thing here.

If you don't have a little girl they also do a blue and yellow version which is super stylish for any boys you may need some for. If they are into gaming these would be perfect.

If you want to grab your children this product then go on over to EasySMX Childrens Headphones they are available on Amazon now for just £11.99, what a bargin. Your saving a huge £30.00 as usually they retail for £41.99. I couldn't recommend them enough.

11/09/2016

Hi all, how you doing? I was thinking of sharing more of our weeks with you by starting to do something rather new. I'll be selecting a few of my favourite photos that best describe our week each week and posting them on my blog WITHOUT any description or even an explanation as to what went on. It's up to YOU to guess and interpret them how you choose by letting me know in the comments below. Anyone who gets it pretty close I'll be giving shout outs on Twitter via @babyypebbles so when you comment leave your Twitter handle too and I could be in touch.

The following week ill do a brief summary to explain how our week went and will follow with some new pictures for you to guess our next weeks summery.

Its all for abit of fun, lets see how it goes. If not it'll be nice for me to look back on these photos anyway but i'd much rather you played along... ;)

Are you thinking about it? Leave you comments below and don't forget your Twitter handle.

26/08/2016

This is the first post believe it or not that your not seeing images from my iphone, yep all this time I've been using shoddy images for my posts. Its so embarrassing really, for someone who's trying to be 'professional' in the way she works on her blog. Today marks a change, I have invested in a new camera for my photos, I decided to go with the Olympus Pen EL7. On first impressions I'm absolutely loving it but there's a still alot of playing to be done with the camera to understand its full settings and functions.

What I have figured out so far is that I can transfer images from the camera to my phone so I can also improve the quality of my Instagram uploads. Yippee! You can pop on over and follow me if your keen to see what I upload...babyy_pebbles its there if you want it.

My first image was going to be obvious wasn't it? My main girl, Penelope. Mind you, when I say I took my first photo, I mean that I turnt the camera on switched it to auto and took a snap of her ruining my back door and house walls with paint. Nothing fancy or remotely good for my parenting reputation but still the photos I took, I am still proud of...

Let me know your thoughts? I see massive improvement already and that's before I've learnt anything really about photography. I cant wait to present better content for Babyy Pebbles, what an adventure.

22/08/2016

Today we went out for the day with my cousin and her two boys, we've been hanging out with them lately which has been SO nice as the kids are really getting along. Its nice to seeing them starting to play together. The week before now we went to the Leighton Buzzard splash park which was so much fun, we decided while there that we would meet up this Monday and head to the woods for another lovely day out.

I'd never visited Wendover Woods before, why that is I have no idea as its such a fantastic place to come kids or no kids. Arriving we drove past the car park which was jam packed and we ended up heading for the overflow car park. Its obviously a popular place to visit with it being so busy. The great thing about it was it didn't 'feel' busy, if anything it still felt very calm and peaceful considering the amount of people that would have been there.

The first thing we did was head over to the wide spread park, huge it was and covered a wide area in the woods with picnic benches in between. On route to the swings Penelope collected every stick she went by, that was fine until she reached one that was bordering on being called a 'log' for obvious reasons, its was as big as her near enough. Never mind that she still carried it around for a good while.

Sticks aside, she was completely stoked to be there, she was breathing deeply, hyperventilating a little even. "Breathe" I said. I take it she was excited. You'd think she had never left the house, I can honestly say she does get out and does socialise with humanity. We had miles of fun in the park, obstacles, slides, swings, and tons more.

The swings were hilarious, Karinas boys were kicking off their wellies having such fun while doing it over and over, it was so cute seeing them giggle away. Boys will be boys ay! Penny was sat next to a little boy who was counting each swing as he was pushed. Penny started to join in and was counting along with him, that was until he went past 10 and she started again from 3 to 4, 7, 8, 9 and then repeat. Complete innocence. She can count to 10 but with someone counting numbers you've never heard before its rather off putting, that's my excuse anyway! ;)

Moving further into the woods we see a little stick shelter, obviously made from Bear Grylls himself. so we decided to investigate it. Noah went straight up to it and started to pack on some leaves as you will spot in the photo, that kid would survive in the wilderness if he knows how to protect himself already at his age. His dad would be chuffed to know that.

We found some bizarre whistle stepping 'stones' too along the way, and we all had a go jumping on them to get them to make the funny noises. I must say me and Karina looked completely ridiculous doing so but the kids, they were adorable. I would like one for my garden though, a discrete way to work out and piss off the neighbours while they think its an annoying bird or something muhaha!

After pissing about on those we went in search to find a picnic table, the one we had pre-planned to settle on was rudely taken by another family who didn't take in to account our picnic needs so we had to look else where.

Anyway. we found a ginormous table that the kids could barely reach from their seats to eat our feast. The kids all ate pretty well considering the fact Penny fell off the chair after struggling to reach for her lunch due to my bad seating choices, Sorry little P, we sorted it in the end, you sat on my lap. Penny had a mouthful of sandwich which was the most I've seen her eat from a sandwich for months! Outside eating more often? I think yes.

Finally it was time for the 'Stick Man Trail', a route in which you have to follow signs guiding you through a very exciting and fun filled walkway. We looked for little signs with characters from the story. Karina had eagle eyes at this game, she seemed to spot them before anyone else. Along the way every 30 paces or so was a billboard with instructions for a game to play. All stick related of course from building stick towers, to creating our own Stickman or Stick Women to hang on the special tree. All the activities that were set out we tried and gave it our best shot.

Now considering our kids are on the younger side they did really well and all wanted to get involved. Although Penny didn't want to stop hugging the trees when we had to identify how the tree trunks felt. It was great fun though. Below is our nest we made, what do you think?

We had an amazing day at Wendover Woods, and will be back in a heart beat to vlog our day very soon, it was so much fun letting the kiddies loose to explore their surroundings. They really did enjoy themselves. All three of them fell asleep on the way home so that says it all.

If you've been to the woods lately what was your favourite part of your day out?

17/08/2016

In two years I haven't bought myself near any clothes and I'll be completely honest, I was wearing my maternity clothes still up until not that long ago. Since Penelope was born I had pushed myself aside and put everyone before my wants and needs. The last thing on my mind was shopping for myself, it would almost make me feel guilty to spend money on myself. I thought it would make me selfish for doing so.

Only in recent months have I started to see that those thoughts were ridiculous and I should have treated myself to new clothes when I could afford too. If I wanted a pair of new shoes, I should have gone out and bought some. This month I took the plunge and did a fair bit of online shopping, because after all that time I bloody deserved it.

I'll be talking about an amazing shopping service that I KNOW your going to love. One that will convert you into loving it within just a few minutes as soon as you see just how many great brands they include on their website. Have you shopped via Love the Sales before? It's the only website that brings all the sales together from the brands that you love to shop at. Instead of trolling through each individual website you've got all them at one easy click away to browse through at your pleasure, grabbing all the greatest offers at the same time.

Here is a casual outfit I have picked out from a browse I did recently, Every item is from a different brand and all in the sales!

This top from the Ted Baker sale is completely my taste. A beautiful Scalloped Edge Lace Top that just screams 'girly' is a winner when it comes to my shopping basket. I really love this piece and would find it so easy to put it together with lots of other outfits. This top retails usually for £109 but at the moment is on sale for just £55, I would completely pay out for it as a brand such a Ted Baker they produce such great quality clothing. I've brought from them before so this is a brand I trust and would gladly purchase from.

I chose a Maxi Skirt because I actually haven't got one yet and I've really been loving this skirt trend lately. Although black isn't exactly a summer colour, I think it would still make for cool wearing as it is very loose and flowy. This skirt would really go well with my top of choice too. This skirt retails at £69.00 from Hallhuber usually then went down to £49.00 but has been reduced yet again to just £39.00, that's amazing value.

Finally, I have these super cute Snake Print Cross Over Sandals to show you! I adore these types of sandals, I love that they are so diverse. You can pair them perfectly with a skirt like the one I picked, also with jeans, shorts, dresses, just absolutely any look. I love the leather snake print strap on the back. I think that make for an edgier look. They retail usually for £117 from HUGO but in the HUGO BOSS sale they are £78. Which I would happily pay for having the amount of wear I would get from these shoes.

Let me know what you think of Love the Sales, I'd love to know what catches your eye?! I hope you enjoyed seeing what I'd choose for my wardrobe, I'll be sure to do more posts like this soon.

*This is a collaboration via lovethesales, all opinions are completely my own.

13/08/2016

I am guilty. Guilty of not being cautious with money, spending more than I need too. If I did a little more digging to find better deals online I could save myself a fortune long term. One thing that I have never done is look for promo codes to also help me save money online. How stupid am I? I didn't know too much about them in order to know how to go about using them if I'm completely honest.

I don't understand it all so I assume its just a long winded waste of time that wont really save me money in the long run, wrong. There are websites out there designed to collect all these promo codes and to offer them to you in one easy usable place. A great example is a website called My Favourite Voucher Codes. They currently have 9540 codes live on offer to their users right now all to save YOU money.

Another great feature to their website is that they have a continuous updated log of when the site was last updated. I went to check today and its last actual update was today. So I know going on there no promo codes will be old and out of date. How annoying it would be to get to the check out on the Marks and Spencers website to then have it say it has expired!

An example of some of their top discount vouchers, deals and offers currently go to;

-Debenhams

-Argos

-Sainsburys

-B&Q

-Cath Kidston

-Wickes

- Newlook

These are all places I regularly go to, and could have saved myself money if I used the websites codes. I stumbled across a whole collection of Marks and Spencer promo codes, what a massive brand to be able to give discounts out on. I love Marks as the quality is beyond any other super market but I only go there every now and then because the Pennys do add up if you do a full shop there. With thanks to My Favourite Voucher Codes I have all of these deals and discounts for M&Sto go through and save money. One of them being 20% off Processco! Hello M&S, I'll be over tomorrow, this mum would appropriate a nice glass of bubbly.

One last thing, to make things even more amazing...they even donate a huge chunk (20%) of their profits to charity, so with every voucher/promo code you use your giving to charity. I'm going to make a real effort to start saving money by using such services because why not they are available to be used so why not take advantage of that.

Do you use promo/voucher codes when you shop online? Are you a super savvy shopper? OR maybe your like me and didn't have a clue this type of saving was even available to use.

11/08/2016

Since we first moved into our new home last year I thought I was happy with Penelope room, its white, bright and fresh but theres just something that isn't right. The problem isn't so much with the decor as white is all I would want for her room. It's the fact there isn't much else going on. The rooms biggest statement is this built in wardrobe, its so amazing for storage but does cause alot of limitation on ways I can present her bedroom.

When we first moved I bought some animal themed animal decals to go on the walls to make it feel friendly and fun for the moving transition but they were only supposed to be a short lived add on. Instead coming up to a year later they are still there and I haven't replaced them yet. I would love to get some poka dots perhaps in silver or light pink to create a feature wall.

I want those blasted IKEA shelves! The ones every bloggers child seems to have? Yes those. I want about 5 of them to go down in a column like style with all of her favourites books to go on them. Again to cover a large empty wall space but utilising it with something that will be used. Plus I just adore how these look in childrens rooms, it might even distract from the giant wardrobe of white with all its colourful glory.

Penelope has a huge giant window in her bedroom, which yes lets tons of light through, but again it looks absolutely huge for the room and limits some space I could make on the wall to look pretty. If I could alter her room in some way I would have sky lights put in for lots of light and to have blackout roof blinds put in from the company VELUX. They actually do some lovely designs my favourite being the Minnie Mouse one, as you can see from the image I've included shes a huge fan. It's subtle and really beautiful too. Definitely have a look at the Velux website to see the designs they have available.

Adding some other smaller touches like a white fluffy rug for the centre of the room would make it really cosy and comfortable looking, as well as some beautiful prints to go on the wall. I'd love to make a collage of frames and prints to go above her cot if I could I think that would really suit the style of her room.

Those are the changes I'd like to make to give Penelopes room a little Umph about it. Over the next month or so I hope to have completed most of these things.

Are you in the process of decorating or jazzing up your childrens bedroom, any tips for me?

10/08/2016

This will keep you and the kids busy over the summer holidays for sure. Get out with the children, put their shoes on and get to a forest, park or even your back garden. It's time to do some exploring. Yes kids. time to put the ipad down and start putting your green fingers to work. It'll do you the world of good.

Just a little advice though, this activity is much more enjoyable in sunny weather, but if you don't mind getting about in the rain then be my guest and pop on your wellies.

You will need:

-Sticks, bark, or thick stems

-Leaves, flowers, and any other softer materials you find

- A bucket

- Elastic bands

-Scissors

You've stepped into the outdoors and your thinking. 'Right kids off you go, lets see what you can find?!' No, stop now. Get out there not stopping until you get your hands and knees in the grass getting stuck in with the kids. Get involved, talk to them about what they are looking for and finding. Ask them if they think certain items would be useful to include in creating the paintbrushes. This can be educational too you know sparking all sorts of conversation and potential learning opportunities, so take advantage here.

Your'll need to look for elongated objects such as sticks or thick stems to act at the brush handle. It needs to be sturdy enough to hold onto while painting. Likewise for the bristles, your'll need to look for softer items to create a flexible brush affect.

Once you've collected everything you think your'll need its time to tip it out onto the table and pick out what you would like to use for your brushes. For example if you have chosen four sticks your'll be making four paint brushes with those, one for each brush. Pick out the materials for the bristles next this can be a mixture of what you found or a bunch of the same leaves. Whatever you and the kids feel fits best.

When you have designed and agreed on the brushes you need to use an elastic banned to wrap the bristles onto the brush handle. Tightly as you don't want the leaves or flowers to be coming off.

After this your done, set your painting area up. Why not do it outside to avoid mess and less clean up if the weather is nice?

09/08/2016

Penelope is really enjoying the fact she can get her colouring books and pens out if she just asks for them. As these days shes able to communicate that. While I am really loving and embracing her want to be creative...it's doing some serious damage to the house.

I turn my back for one second to turn off Cbeebies while shes distracted with colouring, but by the time I look back the radiator, door frames, walls, and windows are covered in circles, lines and
scribbles. Panic that I will never be able to remove the graffiti designed by the rebel child sets in and I run to grab everything in sight to try to remove it as soon as possible.

My second train of thought while tripping over myself into the kitchen is how the bloody hell did that much crayon/felt tip get on so many surfaces in the space it took me to turn off cbeebies!? Its absolutely crazy the speed a toddler can scribble over the house but when it comes to walking to the shop it takes 45 minutes on what should take 8 minutes there and back.

The first thing people have said to me is use crayon, not pen. Well crayon is no easier to remove from walls as 'apparent' washable markers. They are not as bloody washable as you like to think when it comes to being on painted walls I can tell you.

Regardless if shes in the middle of the room or right next to the wall, it need not matter because like I said the speed she can travel when the pens are out is mighty fast! It takes just one second.

Shall we discuss the extent in which shes leaves her skin after a drawing session sometimes too? Blimey, talking about creative, she even plans out her future 'tats' at two years old. Not that I approve in anyway, the designs shes planning seem to look like a full body sleeve and that isnt happening I can clearly put that out there.

I have learnt many lessons over the past few months since she picked up her first crayon, but there is one that I cannot always be prepared for. I have come to discover that no matter hard I may try Penny can always find pens. Its like she stashes them secretly until I least expect it. So when I turn around just before I leave the house to find the kid COVERED in blue Biro. I'm absolutely up to my eyeballs in stress, but laughing all the same because if you don't laugh it off. Your'll send yourself insane.